Saturday 29 March 2014

The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy! 

(The best laid schemes of Mice and Men
oft go awry, And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!)




Which in effect means I have been delayed in my departure
plans. A couple of weeks ago now I had a operation to repair a torn retina in my left eye. What this means is that my planned departure for the end of April is now not going to happen. The Dr has told me to look at a recovery of 3 - 6 months. It is also expected that I will develop a cataract that will require further surgery to repair.

All this means I cannot go ahead with my original plan.. That is a major knock after 3 years of planning to get to this stage.

The best option for me now is to get everything resolved with my eyesight and allow time for it to settle down. On top of that, I have to make sure that I give my employer the notice they need to cover my sabbatical. Plans had already been put in place that now need to be re-adjusted. Difficult to say the least. 

After being forced to sit still during the initial recovery I had a long time to ponder the failure to launch as planned. I have to admit to being  dark place for a while


Update 29th March

I haven't found myself able to publish that last update, and a month later on it is still difficult to do. 

An appointment at the hospital yesterday saw 2 of the 3 stitches in my eye removed in a briefly painful moment! The 3rd will remain and hopefully dissolve of its own accord. Which has removed some of the irritation I have been experiencing. The Dr identified the beginnings of a cataract and I will have to re-visit at the end of June to pick up the next phase of the recovery.. he is also slightly concerned about something in my right eye, which will be checked at the same time.

Anyway enough health issues! this is about travelling and having accepted that I will be delayed for 12 months I have to be positive and re-target a new departure date, which I plan to do at the same time next year, id est. the last weekend in April 2015 In the meantime I will use the 12 months to save more money, which might allow for a few luxurious hotel stops along the way!It also allows me time to do some other preventative maintenance to the bike that I had not reckoned on.. So taking positives from the whole affair I will be better prepared than I originally intended. 

Staying in that positive frame of mind has been difficult, but given no option its the only way I can proceed.. 12months delay to the experience of a lifetime is a small price to pay  One other positive is the news that i will become a grandad in September and consequently will be at home to see that occasion 


feeling old !